Raising Her Right
by JordynMM
Summary: Christina shows up unexpectedly, but Lilly can't say no even though she still can't forgive her.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own, or claim to own Cold Case or anything to do with it. If I did, well, I wouldn't be posting my stories on here, now would I?

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It wasn't until after midnight that Lilly Rush got home. She hung her coat up in the closet and collapsed on the couch, allowing her cats to curl up next to her. Not even ten minutes later, someone was tapping lightly on her door. "What now?" she asked herself quietly, leaning her head into the back of her couch, almost too exhausted to move.

She finally stood up after hearing a few more impatient knocks on her door. "I'm coming already," Lilly said, more to herself than the unexpected visitor, as she made her way to the door. Her first reaction after opening the door was to slam it in the visitor's face, but then she saw the baby in her sisters arms.

"I need help, Lil," Christina said, her cheeks wet with tears. Lilly opened the door more, and allowed her sister to enter her home. Lilly was silent, afraid of what she would say if she opened her mouth. She didn't want to talk to her sister, but she wasn't going to kick her out, not with a baby. "I can't do this alone, Lilly. I... I have no money, and I don't even know what I'm doing. Please, I need you," Christina cried, her arms holding the baby close to her to try to warm the infant up after being outside in the cold wind.

Lilly sat down on the couch without saying a word and Christina did the same. Lilly didn't even couldn't even look at her sister. First, she stared up at the ceiling, waiting for Christina to say something. After a few moments of silence, Lilly glanced at the infant in her sister's arms. "What's her name?" she asked quietly.

"Ashley Marie," Christina said, smiling at the girl in her arms. "She's only ten days old," she added. "She deserves to be taken care of properly, and I can't do that. Not right now," Christina explained as tears began flowing out of her eyes.

"You can stay here. I can help until you can take care of her on your own," Lilly said, still not looking at her sister. If it was just Christina, Lilly wouldn't have even let her in, but she wasn't going to punish her niece for Christina's mistakes.

"Thank you," Christina continued to cry, hugging her daughter close. "I'll look for a job this weekend. A night job. And I... can I leave her with you at nights? She sleeps really good. Hardly ever wakes up crying or anything. And..." Christina spoke quickly, not quite sure how she was going to make it work.

"That's fine," Lilly said quietly. "I can watch her nights and maybe weekends."

"Thank you. I won't screw it up this time," Christina promised.

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**A/N:** Let me know what you think by reviewing! I know it's short, but the chapters will get longer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own them.

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The next day was a Saturday, and Christina set out in search of a job while Lilly spent the day with Ashley. They went shopping for the things Lilly knew they'd need in her home with a baby. Bottles, a car seat, diapers, clothing, and she even ordered a crib that would be delivered to her home in less than a week. Lilly wasn't going to let her niece grow up without the proper care like she and her sister had.

When Lilly finally felt she had everything that they would need to care for the infant, the two went home. Ashley was asleep on Lilly's chest when Lilly's phone started to ring. Lilly was glad it was beside her so she didn't have to move the infant.

"Rush," she answered quietly.

"Hey Lil, it's Scotty," Scotty replied.

"Oh, hey Scotty," Lilly said. _Crap, I hope they don't need me to come in... I don't think Christina has a cell that I can call, _Lilly thought as she waited for Scotty to reply. She took a look at the clock hanging on her wall and was surprised to find that it was nearly seven.

"You not answering your cell today?" Scotty laughed into the phone and Lilly looked around her, confusion on her face. She hadn't even realized she was using the landline until that point.

"My cell?" She asked as she began to search for it.

"Yeah, I tried calling it a few times," Scotty explained. Lilly thought for a moment, thinking maybe she had left her phone in the car. She continued to search for it anyway, not wanting to go out to her car if she didn't have to. "Anyway, the boss needs us in right away. Apparently he's got something big and it can't wait," Scotty explained.

"Crap," Lilly said quietly. "I'm not sure if I can make it in," Lilly said, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder while placing Ashley down on the couch. She put a couple of pillows beside her to prevent her from rolling off while she searched for her phone.

"What, you on a hot date or somethin'?" Scotty teased.

Lilly pushed her hands between the cushions in hopes of locating her phone. "Look, I'll try to make it in, but I can't make any promises," Lilly finally said.

"Okay, see you later then," Scotty said before they both hung up the phone.

Lilly dialed her cell number into her phone in hopes of hearing it ring. She wasn't holding the phone up to her ear, but she could tell when it stopped ringing and someone started to speak. _Crap, did I get the wrong number?_ Lilly thought as she put the phone to her ear.

"Lil? You there?" Lilly heard her sister's voice on the other end.

"Christina, what the hell are you doing with my phone?" Lilly nearly shouted.

"I took it this morning so that you could get a hold of me if you needed to. Didn't I tell you?" Christina explained.

"No, you didn't. And I would have told you not to. I need my phone for work, Scotty's been trying to get a hold of me all night," Lilly glared at the wall in front of her.

"Yeah, I know. What's that all about? You two have a thing or something?" Christina giggled.

Lilly sighed, her frustration clear. "No, Chris, I'm needed at work. Can you get back here?" Lilly asked.

"Fine, calm down. I'm almost there anyway," Christina laughed. Lilly could tell by her tone of voice that she was rolling her eyes. Lilly hung up the phone and lifted Ashley into her arms. She carried the infant upstairs and placed her on her bed so that she could keep an eye on her while she got ready for work.

Lilly heard the door slam shut and made her way back down the stairs with her niece. "You went shopping?" Christina asked as Lilly walked over to her.

Lilly shrugged. "She needs this stuff. Everything's still in the bags, if you need anything. Diapers, clothes, all that stuff," she said before handing the baby over to Christina. "Anyway, I've got to get to work, I'll be back later," Lilly explained, her hand on the doorknob. She paused for a second and turned back to her sister. "Can I have my phone?" She asked, holding her hand out in front of her.

After Christina handed her the phone Lilly left, closing and locking the door behind her.

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**A/N:** Review? Pretty please?


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Don't own them.  


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Lilly showed up at her workplace about ten minutes later and saw that everyone else had already arrived. "Look who made it in," Scotty smirked as Lilly approached her colleagues who were grouped together in the small sitting area.

Lilly rolled her eyes. "What's the deal?" She asked, curious as to what case had brought her in on a Saturday night. Usually she didn't mind, but she was in a horrible mood because of her sister's arrival, and was exhausted. Despite Christina's promises of Ashley sleeping through the night, Lilly was awoken several times by her niece's cries the night before.

"We haven't talked to boss yet, but I think it has something to do with the murders last night," William Jeffries answered her. Everybody else nodded in agreement.

"What murders?" Lilly asked. Obviously she had missed out on something and she just wanted to know what was going on. Lilly was almost thrown back by the looks of disbelief she received from her coworkers. "What?" she asked. The others couldn't believe she hadn't heard about the murders since she was usually the first person to know what was going on.

"Man, that must have been one hot date if you didn't hear about the murders," Vera laughed. _'Damnet Scotty, as if I didn't already have enough to deal with, now everyone's going to be bugging me about my supposed hot date', _Lilly thought as she glared at Scotty.

"Date?" Kat asked, raising an eyebrow at Lilly.

"I wasn't on a date," Lilly said, increasing the intensity of her glare at Scotty. Scotty merely shrugged, unable to prevent the small smirk from forming.

"Right, the date must have been last night... today was just... recovery," Vera winked. Lilly directed the glare to him and he stopped immediately. "Okay, okay," Vera surrendered, putting his hands up beside his head.

"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" Lilly asked. She folded her arms across her chest, growing impatient with the immature "men" she worked with. Usually she could put up with them, but she just wasn't in the mood for their games.

"It's all over the news, there were at least five connected murders last night," Scotty finally answered her.

"Wow," Lilly gasped. "So, what's that got to do with us?" Lilly asked. It had been years since she worked fresh cases and couldn't understand why all of a sudden she was being called in about one.

"I'm guessing there's a connection to a closed case," Vera shrugged.

"Or several closed cases," Kat continued.

Lilly nodded. "If he killed five in one night, who knows how many others there are," Lilly thought out loud. "Where's boss?" she finally asked as she sat herself down on the couch next to her partner.

"He's in his office. Some woman came in all hysterical. I think he's trying to calm her down," Scotty explained.

"I think he knows her or something," Vera added, shrugging slightly.

"Yeah, he knows her. It's his ex-wife," Will explained. Nick jumped at this, trying to peek into the room, but the blinds were closed.

"So, why could you almost not make it tonight?" Scotty asked seriously. He was worried about her. She seemed more irritable than usual, and she also looked exhausted.

"Something just came up," Lilly shrugged, not really wanting to go into the details, especially not with Scotty. Lilly knew that Scotty was about to ask her another question, but they heard their boss' office door open and close, and saw John Stillman emerge with a pained expression on his face.

Vera tried to get a look of John's ex-wife while the door was open, but she had remained unseen in the office.

"What's going on boss?" Scotty asked as the lieutenant approached the group.

John cleared his throat before he began to speak. "There were numerous murders last night, all connected to each other. We can also connect last nights murders to several murders dating back to 2000," John Stillman explained.

"How are they all connected?" Vera asked, sitting back down, a look of disappointment on his face.

"The murderer left a number at the scene of each murder." Stillman explained.

"No, not Numbers," Will gasped, his eyes wide. "You're saying Numbers is responsible for all of the murders last night?"

"Oh, I heard about him," Scotty gasped. "I figured he wound up dead or somethin'. Hasn't it been almost two years since his last kill?" Scotty asked.

John nodded. "We need to catch this guy, he's killed far to many people, and who knows when he'll strike again," John said. "Right now he's at twenty. And my niece was number eighteen," he added, answering the unasked question that had been in everybody's mind.

Lilly, who was standing the closest to him, placed her hand on his arm. "You okay?" she asked quietly.

"I just want this guy locked up. Do whatever it takes," John added before retreating into his office. Lilly looked back to the faces of her colleagues and could tell they were all just as worried about their boss as she was.

"Let's get started then," Will finally said as he made his way across the room. The others followed, knowing that they had a lot of boxes to search for.

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**A/N:** Thanks for the review!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Don't own them.

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It was past midnight, and Lilly was still looking through boxes, when her phone started ringing. "Excuse me," she said to her coworkers who were still with her. She walked over to the steps and sat down before she answered her phone.

"Rush," she answered.

"Hey Lil, it's Chris," Christina replied.

"What do you want, I'm busy," Lilly said quietly having noticed her partner watching her.

"I just wanted to see when you'd be home," Christina said tiredly.

Lilly sighed. "I probably won't be back tonight." Lilly was exhausted, but there was so much work to do on the case, and she didn't like to leave things unfinished.

"What, you staying at Scotty's tonight or something?" Christina teased. Lilly glared at the wall ahead of her. There was nothing going on between her and Scotty, and she couldn't understand why her sister thought there was.

"No, I'm working. There were a bunch of murders last night, and I need to be here. Is there anything else? Or can I hang up now?" Lilly kept her voice quiet but Christina could tell that she was pissed.

"It's just that... I was planning on meeting up with some people tomorrow afternoon, do you think you'll be back?

"Work people, or friends people?" Lilly asked impatiently.

"Both, kind of. People I worked with at the Tavern," Chris answered. "I figure I might be able to get my job back," she added.

"Yeah right. You stole from them and you left without warning; there's not a chance you'll get a job there," Lilly explained.

"It's worth a shot, isn't it?" Chris asked.

"No, Chris. Honestly, I can't even go in there without getting glares from the owner. Just because your sister. I'm not going to look after your daughter while you go drink with some old coworkers. You can either take Ashley with you or you can tell them it'll have to be another time." Lilly explained. "Now, if you don't mind, I've got work to do," Lilly added before hanging up her phone. Lilly rested her head in her hands for a moment before she finally stood up and made her way back to the others.

Lilly leaned against one of the shelves of boxes next to her partner. "You okay?" Scotty asked quietly and Lilly nodded.

"I'm fine," she answered before looking up at Will. "Where are we at?" she asked curiously. It was just the three of them left, and Lilly figured it wouldn't be long before Will called it a night as well.

"We've found thirteen of the fifteen cold cases. We're missing number one and number ten. Murder number one could be a victim from who knows when, any time before March 3, 2000. Murder victim number ten was murdered between December 2nd, 2002, and June 15th, 2003," Will explained.

"All of the victims are female, and it appears that the doer cut off the hair of each victim," Scotty added. "Each victim was said to have long blond hair before she was murdered."

"So, this guy's got some sort of obsession with blond hair," Lilly stated. "What's the age range of the victims?" she asked after thinking for a moment.

"The youngest were twelve year old twins, the oldest was forty-six," Will answered.

"Big range," Scotty commented.

"I'll help you guys carry these boxes upstairs, but then I'm going to head home. You should do the same too," Will said as he lifted a couple of boxes. Lilly and Scotty both lifted some boxes as well and followed him up the stairs.

When all of the boxes were piled up next to their desks, Will finally took off. Lilly sat at her desk, scanning through the files, Scotty did the same at his own desk. Lilly was looking through the files of the twins, unable to believe how little work was done on the case.

"What's up?" Scotty asked after noticing the expression on his partner's face.

"I'm just looking through the files of the twin girls. They were only twelve, they were murdered on the same day, yet there's practically nothing. Only two interviews, and they only spent one week on the case before it went cold," Lilly explained sadly.

"Sounds like they had given up," Scotty said as he stood up and made his way over to his partner's desk. "Who was interviewed?" Scotty asked as he leaned against her desk.

"The parents," Lilly answered, handing Scotty the interviews. But they also could have interviewed the friends that the girls were supposed to be out with that night, and the older brother," Lilly explained.

"Maybe we can see to talking to them on Monday," Scotty said as he quickly scanned through the interview.

"Have you found anything?" Lilly asked, looking up at him.

Scotty shook his head. "Not really. I noticed that the later cases went cold pretty fast, just like these two though," Scotty explained. "By the end of 2002 there were at least nine murders. It looks like they gave up after that."

Lilly leaned back into her chair and yawned. "You ready to call it a night? You look tired," Scotty commented and Lilly shook her head.

"I'm fine. There's too much to do, I'm going to stay a bit longer," Lilly said tiredly.

"And knowing you, a bit probably means all night," Scotty laughed lightly. Lilly shrugged.

"I got nothing better to do," she laughed.

"Right, who needs sleep," he teased.

Lilly nearly jumped when her phone started to ring again. She excused herself again, and made her way into the sitting area so she wouldn't be overheard by Scotty. "Rush," she answered. She looked up at the clock and realized it was nearly two in the morning.

"It's me again," she heard her sister's voice on the other end along with the cries of her niece. "Ashley's crying and screaming and I don't know what she needs, I thought you might be able to figure it out." Christina said tiredly into the phone.

"Is she hungry? Need a diaper change? Maybe her diaper's too tight. Or she could just want to be held," Lilly said as she watched her partner. Scotty had gone back to his own desk and had opened up a new box. Every once in a while he sneaked a peek back at Lilly to make sure she was okay.

"I tried to feed her, but she wasn't hungry. I just changed her diaper. She was sleeping fine before, but now she's crying. I've been walking around with her for the past thirty minutes, and she won't stop," Christina explained, her frustration and exhaustion clear in her voice.

"Make sure the diaper's too tight. It could be uncomfortable for her and give her a rash," Lilly sighed into the phone. Lilly waited while Christina dealt with Ashley.

"I think that was it, but she's still crying," Christina was beginning to panic. "What's wrong, Lilly. I have no clue what I'm doing."

"Don't worry Christina, she's probably fine. Just hold her, and she should stop crying soon," Lilly said.

"Okay, thanks," Christina said and Lilly closed her phone. When she went back into the larger room, Scotty was on the phone. Lilly walked over to her desk as Scotty hung up.

"Sounds like there's been two more murders," Scotty began. "They found number 22 earlier tonight. Haven't found 21, but she's probably out there somewhere," Scotty explained.

"This guy's out of control," Lilly replied. "We got to catch him before things get worse." Scotty nodded and went back to looking through the files. Despite her exhaustion, Lilly sat back down at her desk and read through everything more than once. She hardly noticed the time go by, but was still there at nine the next morning when Lieutenant Stillman came in.

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**A/N: **There might not be another chapter until next week since I've got a busy weekend ahead of me. So, review and let me know what you think!


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